A respected scholar. A gifted teacher. A monk of good standing. 

He could have lived out his days in the comfort of an English monastery. Instead, St. Boniface gave it all away and walked into the unknown, convinced he was called to missionary work

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Boniface, Bishop and Martyr.  His story is one of extraordinary courage, deep fidelity, and a willingness to be sent again and again to the ends of the earth as he knew it.

That conviction, quiet, stubborn, and rooted in prayer, would carry him through decades of difficulty in the pagan wilderness of Germanic Europe.

Since 1959, Catholic physicians, dentists, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants have answered a call not unlike the one Boniface answered in 719: leave the familiar, cross an ocean, go to people who need what you carry.

They go, as Boniface went, not with certainty but with faith. They go into healthcare deserts in Africa and Latin America, where a single trained physician may serve hundreds of thousands of patients. They go because they believe, as Boniface believed, that God’s presence in the world works through human hands.

St. Boniface did not change Europe by staying where it was comfortable. He changed it by going where it was not.

On this feast day, we ask his intercession for every Mission Doctor who has said yes to the call and for every supporter whose generosity makes that yes possible.

St. Boniface, Apostle of Germany, pray for us.  Give us the courage to go.